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Richard Armour
Richard Willard Armour (July 15, 1906 – February 28, 1989) was an American poet, academic, and satirical author who wrote over 65 books. Life Armour was born in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California. His father was a pharmacist, and Armour's autobiographical Drug Store Days recalls his childhood in both San Pedro and Pomona. He attended Pomona College and Harvard University, where he studied with the eminent Shakespearean scholar George Lyman Kittredge and obtained a Ph.D. in English philology. He eventually became Professor of English at Scripps College and the Claremont Graduate School in Claremont, California. In his early career he focused on serious literature, publishing (in 1935) a biography of the lesser English poet Bryan Waller Procter and in 1940, co-editing (with Raymond F. Howes) a series of observations by contemporaries about Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Coleridge the Talker. Virginia Woolf cited this work in an essay stating, "Two pious American editors have collected the comments of this various company acquaintances, and they are, of course, various. Yet it is the only way of getting at the truth—to have it broken into many splinters by many mirrors and so select." Virginia Woolf, "The Man at the Gate" (1945 essay), in The Death of the Moth, and other Essays, 1961 ''You Bet Your Life'' In 1957, Armour appeared on the television game show You Bet Your Life hosted by Groucho Marx, of Marx Brothers fame. After introductions, Groucho repeated the show's famous catch-phrase, "Say the secret word, win a hundred dollars." Each episode of the show had a secret, common word (i.e. home, head, door) and if the contestant said the word during his/her often hilarious interview, then the partnered contestants would each get $50. In this particular case, Armour caught the host in a semantic trap, by immediately stating, "The secret word." He then demanded his $100. After a very brief moment of confusion the band broke out with a short medley indicating that the secret word had been said. Announcer and assistant George Fenneman then arrived on camera and turned to Armour, "From the C.O. over here that we will allow you to do what you just did. But nobody else better try this. That's what they said." Armour replied, "Thank you, very much." And Fenneman left the frame and responded, "You're welcome," quickly caught himself, and almost cut himself off stating, "I had nothing to do with it." Normally when the secret word is said, Groucho immediately hands over cash. He did not hand over the cash and it's unclear if they paid Armour the bonus even after Armour and his partner won the game. Writing Verse Armour wrote humorous light verse in a style reminiscent of Ogden Nash. These poems were often featured in newspaper Sunday supplements in a feature called Armour's Armory. Many of Armour's poems have been repeatedly and incorrectly attributed to Nash. Probably Armour's most-quoted poem (often attributed to Nash) is the quatrain: "Shake and shake / the catsup bottle / first none'll come / and then a lot'll." Another popular quatrain of his, also usually attributed erroneously to Nash, is: "Nothing attracts / the mustard from wieners / as much as the slacks / just back from the cleaners." An example is the poem he composed for Groucho Marx: To Groucho Most poets write of Meadowlarks I sing instead of Groucho Marx His lustrous eyes, each like a star His noble brow, his sweet cigar His manly stride, his soft moustache His easy way with sponsors' cash His massive shoulders, brawny arms His intellect, his many charms In short, unless the truth I stray from A man to keep your wife away from. Books Armour also wrote satirical books, such as Twisted Tales from Shakespeare, and his ersatz history of the United States, It All Started With Columbus. These books were typically filled with puns and plays on words, and gave the impression of someone who had not quite been paying attention in class, thus also getting basic facts not quite right, to humorous effect. As an example: "In an attempt to take Baltimore, the British]] attacked Fort McHenry, which protected the harbor. Bombs were soon bursting in air, rockets were glaring, and all in all it was a moment of great historical interest. During the bombardment, a young lawyer named Francis "Off" Key wrote The Star-Spangled Banner, and when, by the dawn's early light, the British heard it sung, they fled in terror!" It All Started with Europa begins in the wilderness full of "fierce animals ready to spring and fierce birds ready to chirp." It All Started with Marx includes the rabble-rousing Lenin declaring in public "Two pants with every suit!," "Two suits with every pants!" and "The Tsar is a tsap!" It All started with Eve quotes Napoleon as writing in a letter "Do you [ Joséphine ] miss me? I hope the enemy artillery does." His book The Classics Reclassified includes take-offs on works such as The Iliad, Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, etc.; each take-off is prefaced by a short biography of the work's author in the same style. For Shakespeare, it says he "was baptized April 26, 1564. When he was born is disputed, but anyone who argues that it was after this date is just being difficult." Armour's books are typically written in a style parodying dull academic tomes, with many footnotes (funny in themselves), fake bibliographies, quiz sections and glossaries. This style was pioneered by the British humorists W.C. Sellar and R.J. Yeatman with their parody of British history '1066 and All That' in the 1930s. Publications Poetry *''The Medical Muse; or, What to do until the patient comes''. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1963. | An Armoury of Light Verse || 1964 || |- | For Partly Proud Parents || 1950 || Light verse. |- | Golf Bawls || 1946 || Light verse. |- | Private Lives || 1944 || Light verse. |- | The Spouse in the House || - || Light verse. |- | Yours for the Asking || - || Light verse. *''Punctured Poems: Famous first and infamous second lins''. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966. *''All in Sport'' (illustrated by Leo Herschfeld). New York: McGraw-Hill, 1972. Play *''To These Dark Steps'' || 1943 || Stage play (life of John Milton), with Bown Adams Non-fiction *''Barry Cornwall: A biography of Bryan Waller Procter'' || 1935 || - *''Leading with my left '' || 1945 || With caricatures by Joseph Forte. *''It all Started with Columbus''. New York & London: McGraw-Hill, 1953. *''It all Started with Europa''New York & London: McGraw-Hill, 1955. *''It all Started with Eve''. New York & London: McGraw-Hill, 1956. |- | It all Started with Marx || 1956 || History of communism | Nights with Armour || 1958 || - | Twisted Tales from Shakespeare || 1957 || Parody | The Classics Reclassified || 1963 || Famous books (parody) *''Our Presidents''. New York: Norton, 1964. *''It All Started with Hippocrates''. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966. |- *''My Life with Women: Confessions of a domesticated male''. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968. | English Lit Relit || 1970 || English Literature |- | AmericanLit Relit || 1970 || American Literature |- | Going Like Sixty || 1974 || Humorous look at aging. McGraw-Hill, |- | The Academic Bestiary || 1974 || Humorous look at higher learning. William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1974 . ISBN 0-688-02884-5 |- | It all Started with Nudes || 1977 || Art appreciation. Illustrated by Campbell Grant. | Armour's Almanac || 1962 || |- | Educated Guesses || 1983 || Education (serious) |- | A Diabolical Dictionary of Education || 1969 || |- | Drug Store Days || 1959 || Autobiography |- | Going Around in Academic Circles || 1966 || Higher education. |- | Golf is a Four-Letter Word(illustrated by Leo Herschfield). New York & London: McGraw-Hill, 1972. *''Out of My Mind''. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1972. | The Happy Bookers || 1976 || Librarians. Written with and Campbell Grant. |- | It All Started with Freshman English || - || |- | It All Started with Stones and Clubs || 1967 || Warfare and weaponry. |- | My Life with Women || - || |- | Out of My Mind || 1972 || About Bryan Waller Procter/Barry Cornwall |- | A Safari into Satire || 1961 || |- | A Short History of Sex || 1970 || |- | Through Darkest Adolescence || 1963 || |- | Punctured Poems: Famous First and Infamous Second Lines || 1982 || Illustrated by Eric Gurney. Woodbridge Press |- | Writing Light Verse and Prose Humour || - || |- | All in sport || 1972 || With drawings by Leo Hershfield. New York, McGraw-Hill, ISBN 0070023026 *''Going Like Sixty: A lighthearted look at the later years''. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1974. ISBN 0-07-002295-5 | Anyone for Insomnia? A playful look at sleeplessness by a blear-eyed insomniac. Santa Barbara, CA: Woodbridge, 1982. Juvenile *''The Year Santa Went Modern''. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964. *''A Dozen Dinosaurs'' (illustrated by Paul Galdone). New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967. *''All Sizes and Shapes of Monkeys and Apes'' (illustrated by Paul Galdone). New York: McGraw-Hill, 1970. *''The Strange Dreams of Rover Jones'' (illustrated by Eric Gurney). New York: McGraw-Hill, 1973. |- | The Adventures of Egbert the Easter Egg || - || Children's book. |- | Animals on the Ceiling || - || Children's book. | Odd Old Mammals || - || Children's book. |- | On Your Marks: A Package of Punctuation || - || Children's book. |- | Sea Full of Whales || 1974 || Children's book. |- | Who's in Holes? || - || Children's book. *''Strange Monsters of the Sea'' (illustrated by Paul Galdone). New York: McGraw-Hill, 1979. | Insects all around us || 1981 || |- *''Have You Ever Wished You were Something Else?'' (illustrated by Scott Gustafson). Chicago: Childrens Press, 1983. Edited *''Coleridge the Talker'' (co-edited with Raymond F. Howes). 1940. Individual poems *"To man, gloomily" The New Yorker 25/46 (7 January 1950) : 71 See also * List of U.S. poets References External links ;Poems *"Money" *Richard Willard Armour at PoemHunter (8 poems) *Richard Willard Armour at AllPoetry (8 poems) ;Quotes *Richard Armour quotes ;Audio / video *Richard Armour at YouTube ;Books *Richard Armour at Amazon.com ;About *Richard Armour at NNDB *Richard Armour at Find a Grave Category:1906 births Category:1989 deaths Category:Harvard University alumni Category:American poets Category:The New Yorker people Category:20th-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets